Brewer's: Hawk and Handsaw

I know a hawk from a handsaw. Handsaw is a corruption of hernshaw (a heron). I know a hawk from a heron, the bird of prey from the game flown at. The proverb means, I know one thing from another. (See Hamlet, ii. 2.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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